Monday, May 24, 2010

chicken jalfrezi

One of the fun things about blogging is the great recipes. Last week Alaine posted a delicious looking chicken jalfrezi on her blog Eclectique. I just just had to give it a whirl. She was right, it was wonderful; a whole bouquet of bright flavors. It was such a big hit at the manor, it's going to be a regular dish. Thanks, Alaine!

I was unfamiliar with the term "jalfrezi", so of course I had to do a bit of poking around. Jalfrezi is a type of Indian curry in which marinated piece of meat or vegetables are fried in oil and spices to make a dry, thick sauce. It's cooked with green chilies, and can range in heat from a medium dish, to a very hot one. Typically those eating jalfrezi cool it down by combining it with cream.

From the times of the Mughals, when it was created as a way of using leftover meat, the chilies helped disguise any disagreeable taste. Okay, now that's really appetizing. The name comes indirectly from Bengali "jhal", meaning spicy food and Urdu "parhezi" meaning suitable for a diet.

I am very lazy about cooking (less so about eating) and like to jest with my friends that my recipe book is actually a list of favorite dishes and the addresses of the people who prepare them well. The chicken jalfrezi sounds very appetizing so I may soon ask you for directions to the manor to see if I can enjoy it with you and WT.

Gosh Willow, I'm sitting here scratching my head trying to work out how I'm going to 'adapt' this beauty into MOTH's Leaping Lipids No-Fat Ever Again diet. The aromas have drifted all the way across the Pacific - yum.Millie ^_^

This looks fabulous--I will definitely give this a try. Did you take the photograph? I am asking because I cannot ever get my food photos to turn out well. Althought I have a dinky (rather pitiful) little camera. Any tips?

Sounds really yummy! We are big on curries and love to serve them with assorted side dishes, such as chopped apples soaked in fresh lemon juice, cut up bananas, also with lemon, chopped white onions doused with hot red pepper flakes, cucumbers in plain yogurt, chutney and crispy pappadums! I think all these side dishes were from British colonial times in India where the British army cooks would serve a Curry Lunch in the Officers' Mess after church! Probably with lashings of gin and tonics.

I also tried Alaine's recipe after reading it on her blog and I agree - it was utterly delicious! I never knew that about Jalfrezi either, thanks for sharing your findings - as ever, you blog is eternal source of useful and interesting information.

Dear Willow: Oh yum! I'm the only one in the family who love curry! I have found that the Tumeric spice is considered somewhat of a cure all and is loaded with antioxidants and is good for all sorts of ailments. I bought some just for putting in water and drinking, but on chicken it would taste so much better. Love exotic dishes! And peppers of all kinds!

I see you're reading Muskoka Maharani. I'd never heard of it but Muskoka is one county over from where I grew up in Parry Sound in almost-Northern Ontario. The G-8 is happening in Muskoka in a town called Huntsville. Very timely.

Bracebridge is actually a town in Muskoka. I see it's used as a person's name in the book.

Ondaatje mentions Parry Sound on the last page of the English Patient and John Irving has a cottage 12 miles north. He's also written about the area in Last Night in Twisted River. So I'll have to read McMahon's book.

Your recipe looks yummy by the way and I was startled to see the white background over here on the very day I went grey.

R.A.D. Stainforth reads my poems

I pledge to read the printed word

I adore the scent of old paper in secondhand bookshops, the
dance of words on a page, gathering odd things like a magpie, fresh flowers, woolly socks, keeping company with art, the thrill of film, and
concocting an occasional culinary delight for the people I love.